Definition

One must make a distinction however: when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, nor till the autocrats among us can be “literalists of the imagination”—above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, imaginary gardens with real toads in them, shall we have it.

Snuggled deep within a cloud of soft and snowy white,the angel says her bedtime prayers, then whispers, sweet, “Goodnight.”She gently rests her tired head upon her angel wings.With a sigh and closing eyes, she soon begins to dream.

Her golden curls tumble down across a peaceful browthat knows no cares or worriesand rarely wears a frown.

Her long black lashes flutteras she giggles in her sleep.And I can’t help but sneak a kissupon her rosy cheek.

She snuggles closer to me.I whisper, “Love you true.”When angels sleep, when angels dream,they look a lot like you.

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MZ has selected several of her photographs for our poetic inspiration. Each one is copyrighted to her, so please remember to acknowledge the name of the artist if you upload an image to your blog. Please do not select another image from MZ's blog without her express permission.

As for creative process . . . I point, I shoot, and I sometimes get lucky. I don't have the technical skills or knowledge to "set up" a shot. And, I certainly can't talk camera specs. But, I know what I like when I see it.

And, the "seeing" is the best part. Since I started taking pictures, I notice more of the beautiful, the ugly, and the flat out weird that surrounds me. That's a greater gift than any in-focus picture.

The Sunday Challenge is posted on Saturday at noon CST to allow extra time for the creative process, so please do not link up old work which kind of fits the image. Members will only respond to poetry written specifically for this prompt: this is in the spirit of our Real Toads project to create opportunities for poets to be newly inspired. Management reserves the right to remove unrelated links.

Enjoyed this piece about you Mama Z. I also like to take pictures and couldn't agree more that the greatest gift of photography is how taking photos changes the way one looks at things. These are nice photos--you must have a steady hand! I will ponder on these and see what poetry blooms!

Oh, Mama Zen!! I love your philosophy surrounding your photography! I roll the same way, it's rather freeing, taking off the pressure for perfection and in turn I believes more space for it to happen naturally. You capture beautiful images and words!! Thank you!

The first piece I wrote was no good. I gave up and drove to the supermarket. I began to notice things along the way, and lines began to assemble themselves in my head. All I had was my blackberry, but I had to keep stopping in the aisles to write down my notes. It was like everything that had been whirling in my brain after a week of reading the input on RT chose those moments to coalesce into words.

Oh, that poem just about did me in, Mama Zen! ...(I just subjected my four year old son to a thousand squeezes and check kisses) I have SOOO much going on today (horse clinic, A HOUSE SHOWING ... UGH and my 19 year son is lead singer in a band tonight.

You may not class yourself as a professional, but, you do have a gift of taking some fabulous photographs at just the right moment. That is a gift and also a talent some may never have.Loved all of these pics MZ. Great prompt Kerry, thank you.

GAH! I had three different poems going for this at one time--the one I chose--finally!--I'm still not happy with, but it won the fight and I have given up, at least for now. Will be by to read a bit later. Happy Weekend, all, and hope you feel better, MZ.

I'm WAY behind on all of my Toad challenges! Been at a community mediator training class since Friday and all weekend. Just now had the chance to catch up on blog reading, but I LOVE your photos and share your philosophy on point, shoot, and hope for the best! I'll definitely choose one of these for a poem right after I FINALLY finish my Mucha for FB's last challenge!

source Write a poem of tribute to or about a dog you have loved – and/or still love. Tell us about him or her, and...

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